Reddit reviews Dynamic Anatomy: Revised and Expanded Edition
We found 20 Reddit comments about Dynamic Anatomy: Revised and Expanded Edition. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Used Book in Good Condition
A foot, chanelling my inner Burne Hogarth.
I'm gonna disagree with a lot of people and tell you to not buy Understanding Comics. I mean, you can, I don't disagree with most of what he teaches, but I disagree with his results. Perhaps it's one of those 'good in theory, terrible in practice' things. The Sculptor, his latest (?) book uses his UC technique 100% and while it makes for an easy read, it's visually boring and the story is just one unbelievable trope after another, complete garbage.
I'm also not going to tell you to copy other comic artists, that's a very common mistake in comics. When you copy other comic artists you learn their mistakes, or shortcuts, or cheats. I still find after I've drawn a page I'll go back and see where I unintentionally swiped a pose or technique from John Buscema (How to make Comics the Marvel Way had a big influence on me as a teenager, which is who it was made for).
For figure drawing you want George Bridgeman. His figure drawing techniques are the foundation for pretty much every other great illustrator in the last 100 years.
Another good source is Burne Hogarth (Dynamic Anatomy, Dynamic Figure Drawing) his stuff is more action and hero based, but his lessons are sound. He founded what became the School of Visual Arts. These were my first art books when I was a teenager, and they still hold up.
For storytelling, I go for Will Eisner's Graphic Storytelling and the Visual Narrative, Sequential Art Principles and throw in Expressive Anatomy, because, why not?
David Chelsea's Perspective for Comic Artists is great, because it teaches you exactly how to do correct perspective, then in the last chapter he tells you how to cheat at all of it.
For classes, take a look at the horribly designed website for http://comicsworkbook.com/ it's run by a guy, Frank Santoro, who's actually not one of my favorite artists, but he knows his shit, for sure, and he's a helluva nice guy who loves comics 100%. I think his full online class is $500 and he runs it twice a year, I think. Also look in your area for a college or art store that might have figure drawing classes, they are invaluable.
The anatomy is funky. Comic books aren't a good place to go for anatomical research. Go to a library/book store (or amazon) and pick up this book. Read and draw EVERYTHING in this book. Seriously, cover to cover this book, and while you're doing that, go to coffee shops and draw everyone you see. Draw from real life while studying anatomy.
Unclear without context how long you've been drawing, but, good on ya for posting! A couple of bits of crit:
Have you read Hogarth's Dynamic Anatomy? (US Amazon link, but I'm sure if you sail the seven seas you can find PDFs) (Edit: after looking at that, seems like the reviewers also recommend Dynamic Figure Drawing, which apparently has less dense prose and more examples). Was very helpful to me as a teenager trying to figure out drawing bodies, even without life-drawing classes.
Your colors are all really saturated. I still have to fight this today. Part of that's a stylistic thing (your face style says "anime/comic" to me so full saturation is less of a deal?) Maybe try experimenting with slightly lower saturation though and see where that takes you?
Your colors also don't seem to be picking up any of the blue light from the water. You might want to look at some photos of underwater dance to see how the lighting is. Again, I think you're going for a more stylized manga/comic illustration look so you don't have to lean in so far to that, but it might be helpful!
Gotcha! Some resources that might be helpful:
Loomis has some good (free) books on constructive figure drawing, which is what you want to learn if you're interested in drawing characters out of your head. I'd recommend Figure Drawing for What It's Worth in particular.
Ctrl+paint is another great resource for learning the art fundamentals that are specifically relevant to illustration. He also has a lot of great information on how to get into Photoshop.
If you want to be drawing characters, it would probably be good to thoroughly learn anatomy. I've seen scattered tutorials for this, but I've had better luck with books- Burne Hogarth and Bridgeman are good, and I've also found Netter's anatomy useful for learning the names of bones and muscles.
For color theory, I would recommend Gurney's Color and Light.
Also check out the sidebar, there's a ton of educational material under "useful links."
I would recommend starting with ctrl+paint or Loomis, and working from there. Both sources will give you an overview of a lot of topics that you can go on to explore in more depth. And of course, keep up the practice.
Best of luck!
IMO go lower in resolution. Focus on form first before you do any detailing. I would also highly suggest diving into this book and making it everything you think about:
https://www.amazon.com/Constructive-Anatomy-Dover-Artists/dp/0486211045
edit: another great one: https://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Anatomy-Expanded-Burne-Hogarth/dp/0823015521
http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0823015521 This was helpful to me and I've had classes use it as a reference. I stopped reading 'how to' manga/cartooning books a long time ago (I don't think any less of them, I just didn't really need to anymore) so I can't really give you a list of those. You don't really need to either, to be honest, because your style will show through your work no matter what.
What I recommend instead is taking a figure drawing class if you can. Having a live model is the best way to learn the body. You can see how muscles shape given tensity of a stance, how fat sits on the muscle and the softness of skin. More than you can receive from a photo..it really does make a difference. You can also try to ask a friend to model for you:) It surprised me the number of people willing to do it for art, so it doesn't hurt to try! All bodies are different, remember that ;3
Before you do that, though, you should draw the musculatory system. Why? It forces you to understand just what's going on under the skin and why these things are shaped the way they are. One of my favorite assignments was:
Good luck! Feel free to pm me if you need anything :3
Definitely check out Burne Hogarth's Dynamic Anatomy
it gets into the thought and theory behind figure and form, and helped me through some major roadblocks
Hey dude! Byrne Hogarth's "Dynamic Figure Drawing" is a good resource for this. https://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Anatomy-Expanded-Burne-Hogarth/dp/0823015521/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=burne+hogarth+dynamic+anatomy&qid=1570068434&s=gateway&sr=8-1
- Nice drawing! Hands need work ..fingers look two dimensional and flat. The book covers this; simplifying the human form into shapes for foreshortening.
- You did an awesome job with the right arm! The left arm is not foreshortened and doesn't appear to be extended parallel with the torso since it is smaller; this makes it appear disfigured.
Keep drawing man lots of potential here!
I highly recommend learning to draw real people before learning to draw anime. The skills you learn to draw from life will transfer over to anime style, but not the other way around.
I don't know of any resources to learn since I taught myself, but I think Sycra's videos are probably pretty good.
Oh, I also recommend the books Dynamic Anatomy and Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth.
The style you are using, with no outline, looks nice.
You need to work on your anatomy. For example, look at his right hand, and look at where your thumb is on your own right hand when you are holding it like that.
I would recommend getting a good book on understanding and drawing anatomy and muscles, like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Anatomy-Revised-Expanded-Edition/dp/0823015521
Check out a book called Dynamic Anatomy.
I have the old version, but it's literally the best bit of anatomical instruction I've seen.
This is really good work. The kerning and hands could use a little work but it's off to a great start. It's always good to ask for critiques. So.. . Kudos on you.
Dynamic Anatomy: Revised and Expanded Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0823015521/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Zj22BbHYV7FTB
>It's a great balance between technical information and illustrative information for artists. Even if an artist isn't going full-on photo-realistic, knowing where bones, muscles and other structures under the skin lay and fill out what goes on top will help.
I Also suggest checking out Dynamic Anatomy by Burne Hogarth!
I can definitely help you with this.
How to Draw: drawing and sketching objects and environments from your imagination
This is the best book on perspective you can buy. Perspective is the number one thing you need to have a grasp on if you want to draw, especially from imagination. Practice this until it clicks for you.
For setting up scenes I recommend Andrew Loomis books, Creative Illustration in particular. Loomis has several books out and they're all amazing. Many artists have learned to draw from Loomis.
Burne Hogarth is another master of the craft and you can learn a lot about musculature and anatomy from his books. These are generally a step up from Loomis so you could move on to these once you have a solid grasp of the fundamentals to take your work to the next level. Dynamic Anatomy, Dynamic Figure Drawing, Drawing the Human Head.
For people and anatomy, Proko (http://www.proko.com/library/) has good free youtube videos. He uses a lot of Loomis and Hogarth methods (which are pretty much the standard) and presents them in a way that is easy to digest. He's constantly updating his channel and adding new videos.
If you can only get a few books, I would get the How to Draw perspective book first, then go through the Proko material, then move onto the Loomis and Hogarth stuff. These learning materials will take you pretty much as far as you want to go.
Also I highly recommend sticking to traditional materials (pencil and paper) while you're learning. Once you have the fundamentals down then you can move on to digital. You're going to make things much easier on yourself if you stick with traditional while you nail these fundamentals down.
it's hard to say without knowing your skill level so i'll point you towards a few resources i think are good for beginners. basically fundamentals means the ability to represent the physical world. even if you're drawing cartoons you need to be able to draw traditionally. there are some people who can draw in certain styles while skipping this step and people like to raise them up. most likely you are not one of these people.
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain anyone interested in learning to draw should read this. it has a lot of psycho-babble but the lessons are great. a lot of drawing has to do with your perception. this book will get you started on developing the 'artists eye.' this will also give you the stripped down basics of line, value, form and stuff that i'm not going to get into.
Rad How To. blog of a Dreamworks storyboard artist. this guy knows figure construction like the back of his hand. start at the beginning. there is so much great info here it's crazy.
Andrew Loomis these out of print books are legendary. personally i like other books but the lessons in here apply to everyone.
ConceptArt.org is an amazing resource but you have to work to find anything useful. there are shitty links everywhere and the site as a whole ain't what it used to be. i suggest sorting different sub-forums by page view. the ultimate success story is easily John Hardesty, AKA MindCandyMan. this guy showed up one day, never having drawn in his life and said he would post everyday. well, just click through his story. all it takes is determination.
Dynamic Anatomy. no matter what kind of drawing you want to do, if you are going to draw people knowledge of anatomy will make it easier. if you don't learn the underlying form you'll get hung up on symbols. check the sidebar 'learning your style' for more information.
Art and Fear. everyone should read this book, not just those interested in the arts. it gets down to why people get hung up on things they love.
if you want to post a pic to get a better idea of where you stand i can give more detailed info. also post something to r/artcrit. those guys will point you where you need to go usually.
most importantly don't get frustrated. most people stop drawing because the disconnect between what you want to draw and how well you can draw is leagues apart. drawing is exceptionally difficult. we are all so in tune with our visual perception it can be heartbreaking that you hand can't keep up. as long as you focus on the process of drawing and not the finished product you'll be a lot better off.
have fun.
Good start, nice job. This is basically how I learned anatomy: [Dynamic Anatomy] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0823015521/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518229124&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=dynamic+anatomy+by+burne+hogarth&dpPl=1&dpID=51IuMvcdUbL&ref=plSrch)
And really I just went through it page by page and drew everything. Everything! By the time you are done, you'll have a solid grasp of human anatomy, or at least a damn good start.
 
I learned this approach from one of my heroes, Frank Frazetta:
>When Ralph [Mayo] took over he pulled me aside and said, “Frank, you stuff is great, but you need to learn some anatomy.” When I was in school with Falanga the emphasis was on feeling, not on the nuts and bolts, so I really didn’t understand what he meant by ‘anatomy.’ So Ralph handed me an anatomy book and when I went home that night I had decided to learn anatomy. I started with page one and copied the entire book – everything in one night, from the skeleton up. I came back the next day like a dumb kid and said, “Thank you very much, I just learned my anatomy.” Of course Ralph fell over and roared with laughter. “Frankie, you silly bastard! I’ve been studying for ten years and I still don’t know anatomy, and you went home and learned it last night?!” But the thing was I had learned an awful lot. I had the ability to absorb things and he saw an improvement in my work right away. It amazed him and that meant a lot to me. From that point on I developed pretty rapidly: I started to do things with figures that made sense. I worked for Mayo and Standard for a few years, doing things like “Looie Laziebones” and all the funny animal stuff.
-Frank Frazetta
 
Here's an old WIP character I made that shows some of my anatomy work, though not perfect by any means and stylized, being just a big muscle bound brute (no armor/clothing pictured here either):
http://jpe3d.cgsociety.org/art/maya-zbrush-shezmu-musculature-sculpt-816692
Also, Burne Hogarth has a series of fantastic books on drawing the human figure.
http://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Figure-Drawing-Burne-Hogarth/dp/0823015777/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y/186-3990155-9103639
http://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Anatomy-Revised-Expanded-Edition/dp/0823015521
http://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Light-Shade-Burne-Hogarth/dp/0823015815/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_z
> my 'gram
That's great, I love it. You're drawing is just about as adorable as that little fence lizard.
I was just looking through your other work and noticed all of your hand studies. You might want to check out this book. It was my bible when I was studying the fundamentals of figure drawing. I still consult my old charcoal dust covered copy. Note: I don't work for the book company or anything, just a friendly tip from one artist to another.
Anyways, great work. Keep it up.
http://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Anatomy-Revised-Expanded-Edition/dp/0823015521/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1345442071&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=dynamic+anatomy
Worth it if you're serious about studying anatomy. Or just check out some books on drawing anatomy from your library. More detailed information and references will help! I would actually copy some figures from an anatomy book before trying posemaniacs, it's much easier to draw from a solid copy than a computer screen.
It was several years after I started anatomical studies that I had the sense to study the body from the inside out, skeleton, muscles, everything. Worth every minute.
Good luck!
Just a little critique. Your sculptures are nice, but they're really flawed with your lack of anatomy knowledge, her head is way too large for the rest of her proportions and her legs are different sizes. you can sculpt breasts but her form is off balance. I'd recommend picking up this, this, and this.
If you're interested, I can send you a lot of files of art stuff, I believe we can improve your anatomy ten fold.